A computer data center may typically contain plurality of servers, various equipments such as telecommunication, networking, switch and other electronic equipment arranged in racks or frames. The heat is generated by such electronic equipment and the data center is cooled with the help of cooling units, such as computer room air conditioners (CRAC) or computer room air handlers (CRAH) for effective thermal management.
The major challenge for the data center managers is to ensure safety and reliability of electronic equipment by ensuring appropriate operating temperatures in the data center. Manufacturers of any computing equipment specify the recommended range and allowable range of temperature that need to be maintained around the equipment. Prolonged exposure of equipment to conditions beyond recommended range may result in decreased equipment reliability and longevity; it could even result in higher temperature at some spots in the data center i.e. hot spots, leading to the failure of equipment.
In the current scenario, due to lack of distributed sensing and continuous monitoring of temperatures in the data center; thermal problems go unobserved and further leading to thermal failures. Typically, data centers are not equipped with large number of temperature sensors, thus a reasonable understanding of thermal management in the data center becomes difficult to develop. Temperature sensors may not be placed at important locations, for example, at inlets of racks. Data center manager may not be aware of critical locations to place temperature sensors. In addition, it is also difficult and expensive to place sensors in legacy data centers. Hence there is a definite need for a method and system capable of continuously monitoring and prediction of temperatures and analyzing the complete temperature profile in the data center even when the data center has fewer sensors, and further display them for effective thermal management.
With the objective of overcoming the problems associated with distributed sensing and continuous monitoring of temperatures for achieving effective thermal management of a data center, it is evident that there is a need to have a method and system for providing real time monitoring of temperatures at various locations in the data center where sensors are placed, prediction of temperatures at other critical locations in the data center where sensors are not present. There is also a need to have a method and system that can analyze the complete temperature profile in the data center, generate alarms and notifications and further display of various monitored and predicted temperatures, alarms, notifications on a user interface (UI).